Kang earns decision, Quarry rocks MacDonald at UFC 97

MONTREAL – With more than 70 professional contests between them, featured UFC 97 preliminary card fighters Denis Kang (32-11-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) and Xavier Foupa-Pokam (20-10 MMA, 0-1 UFC) were each looking to make their marks on the middleweight division.

While Kang outworked his French foe en route to his first UFC win, it was another familiar name, Nate Quarry (11-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) that made a real splash in the middleweight division in his win over Jason MacDonald (21-12 MMA, 5-5 UFC).

The bouts capped off UFC 97’s preliminary card from the Bell Centre in Montreal.

With “Professoor X” presenting a myriad of problems on the feet, Kang intelligently elected to work the fight to the floor as often as possible. Foupa-Pokam proved unable to resist the strategy. Unfortunately, Kang proved just as unable to finish the bout from the floor.

Foupa-Pokam tried to work back to the feet with every available opening, scoring with kicks and knees in spots, but Kang muscled him back to the floor each time. The strategy didn’t please the packed arena, but the dedication to a smart gameplan proved beneficial to Kang in a clear, though uninspiring, unanimous-decision win.

After losing his UFC debut, Kang admitted he felt pressured to perform well.

“It feels good to get that (UFC) win,” Kang said. “I have to admit I was a little bit nervous. I don’t want to say this match was a do-or-die (fight), but I said to myself that it was.”

Foupa-Pokam had won his past seven-straight contests before falling short in his UFC debut.

“TUF” vets Quarry and Herman disappoint pro-Canadian crowd

The gameplans for middleweight striker Quarry and grappler MacDonald appeared obvious. But while most expected Quarry to try and keep the bout on the feet, “The Rock” had different plans.

Quarry clinched early and reversed a takedown attempt to land on top of his foe. Quarry then postured up and delivered a barrage of forearms, elbows and punches that opened up a gash on MacDonald’s head. With MacDonald pinned on the cage and the attack unrelenting, MacDonald was saved halfway through the opening frame.

While Quarry looked comfortable on the ground, he admitted after the contest he was only safe while he was in top position.

“I knew I hit him with a good elbow and cut him,” Quarry said. “From where the cut was, I knew the blood would get in his eyes and mess with his mind.

“I just knew that I didn’t want to be on the bottom against him.”

Quarry bounces back from a November loss to Demian Maia in emphatic fashion, while the always-tough MacDonald has now dropped two straight.

Canadian UFC veteran David Loiseau (18-9 MMA, 4-4 UFC) started the evening as the night’s feel-good story, but there’s no chance “The Crow” will felt good after his bout with Ed Herman (15-7 MMA, 4-4 UFC). A combination of punishing knees from the clinch and brutal ground-and-pound on the ground left no doubt as to the winner of the contest.

Loiseau found himself on his back throughout the contest, and Herman remained relentless in his attack for 15 minutes. Loiseau valiantly pushed on, but the bout was highly one-sided in nature.

With a pro-Loiseau crowd silenced by the final frame, Herman earned a dominating unanimous-decision win.

After the bout, Herman said the fight played out just as he had planned.

“I feel like I did a lot of things well,” Herman said. “[Loiseau] is a lot quicker than me on the feet, so I wanted to take him down.”
The win snaps a two-fight losing streak for Herman, while Loiseau has a three-fight win streak snapped in his first UFC bout in two-and-a-half years.

Bocek beats the clock, Bielkheden; Grant edges Chonan in debut

After an initial unsuccessful takedown attempt, Canadian Mark Bocek (7-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) put Swedish lightweight David Bielkheden (13-7 MMA, 1-2 UFC) on his back and never let up.

Bocek worked twice to sidemount as Bielkheden struggled to maintain guard. The second pass offered Bocek a chance to strike and pass to full mount. Once in the position, a series of strikes from the top found their mark for Bocek as time expired. Bielkheden rolled to avoid damage, but Bocek pounced.

Despite the clock ticking off the final seconds of the opening frame, Bocek locked in the rear-naked choke, forcing Bielkheden to tap with just three seconds left in the opening frame.

Following the bout, Bocek said the experience of fighting in his native country was a good one.

“David’s a tough opponent,” Bocek said. “What I took away from this match is I have to keep improving and to never be satisfied.

“The fans are awesome, and I try to give them the best show I can.”

Bocek has now earned two-straight submission wins in the UFC, while Bielkheden has alternated wins and losses in his first three bouts for the organization.

Canadian UFC newcomer T.J. Grant (14-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) received a deafening roar as he entered the cage, and the welterweight put on a performance worthy of the support against the always tough Ryo Chonan (15-10 MMA, 1-3 UFC).

A grappling contest throughout the 15-minute affair, the two fighters each took turns earning dominant positions and exchanging ground-and-pound strikes. Each was able to work free from the other’s guard in spots, but neither was close to ending the fight at any point. Instead the action took relentless turns of momentum throughout and left a winner difficult to decide.

In the end, two of the three judges in attendance awarded the bout to Grant, who earned the split-decision win in his UFC debut.

“My strategy was to use my wrestling and strike when I had to,” Grant said after the win. “[Chonan] got on top of me a few times. It was a tought fight.

“When [the crowd] was cheering for me, I was like, ‘I can’t lose this fight.'”

The win was the Canadian’s fifth-straight overall, while Chonan has now dropped two-straight bouts and may soon find himself resuming his eight-year career back in Japan.

“The Ultimate Fighter 8″ cast members Eliot Marshall (7-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) and Vinicius Magalhaes (2-4 MMA, 0-2 UFC) – both defeated by Ryan Bader during their time on the show – opened up the evening’s activities to a restless crowd.

Minor breaks in action were met with audible disapproval from the Bell Centre crowd from the opening moments of the bout. Fortunately for the already nearly full arena, the action didn’t stall too often.

The two jiu-jitsu experts traded shots from the feet for the majority of the contest, and Marshall issued the greater volume of offense. Magalhaes worked Marshall to the floor briefly in the second round and very late in the third, but the flashes of grappling weren’t enough to sway the outcome.

Marshall took advantage of a clearly fatigued Magalhaes to earn the unanimous-decision win.

“I felt like I hit him more than he hit me,” Marshall said following the bout. “The strategy was keep it on the feet. I knew he would fade.”

Marshall has now won his first two bouts in the UFC after being eliminated in the “TUF 8″ semi-finals, while Magalhaes has dropped three-straight official contests.

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